Riot Games is facing some backlash from the VALORANT community for releasing the trailer for its newest Turkish agent Fade on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day.
April 24 is recognized as Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day after hundreds of Armenian community leaders in Constantinople, present-day Istanbul, were arrested and murdered by the Ottoman government in the first phase of the genocide in 1915.
“It’s ok Fade, the Armenian genocide isn’t real,” said Twitter user Turkish Gengar.
As shown in the trailer for Fade, she hails from Istanbul, Turkey, which is where the genocide of the Armenian people took place many years prior. It was the connection of Fade’s origins in combination with the timing that caused the uproar on social media. Outside of Fade being from Turkey, her abilities are based on creating nightmares for the other agents.
“To announce a Turkish character that’s hunting people on #ArmenianGenocide day is the most messed up thing I seen today,” said Twitter user Zara Gia.
The tweet for the trailer only added to the distaste from the community, saying that Fade “is here to hunt you down” and encouraging people to “try to hide” from her. In some form, this is what happened to the Armenian people in Constantinople. While the tweet and origins of Fade may have been insensitive for those remembering Armenians, some considered the instance nothing more than poor timing on VALORANT’s part since Fade was set to be announced weeks ahead of time alongside the grand finals of Masters Reykjavík.
“You fucks seriously announce this on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day,” said another Twitter user. “AND WITH THAT CAPTION? ‘Hunt you down’? L post. L character. L game.”
Fade is set to hit VALORANT’s live servers on April 26.
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